Key identification means



W. F. ROTHE KEY IDENTIFICATION MEANS Filed July 25, 1946 IN VEN TOR.. aLberERw/w, BY

A i't'orl eg Patented Sept. 4, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE KEY IDENTIFICATION MEANS Walter F. Rothe, Washington, D. 0.

Application July 25, 1946, Serial No.686,*129

1 Claim.

ticularly to novel arrangements in the head of the key for identifying individual keys.

Usually keys are carried in a bunch on a keyring or the like and in order to obtain entrance through a locked door to a house, garage or other building it is necessary to first find the proper key for the door to be unlocked. If a large number of keys are on the key-ring, it is usually necessary to try several or more of the keys before the right key is found to fit the lock. It is difficult to pick out the correct key from the bunch even in broad daylight, but at night, in the dark, it is an extremely diificult matter, unless some effective and simple arrangement of key identification is provided.

Accordingly, it is an object of my invention to provide a novel means of key identification, whereby individual keys may be quickly selected from among a bunch of keys either in light or in darkness.

Anotherobject is to provide in the head of a key novel multiple permanent identification means, whereby individual keys may be picked out of a large bunch of similarly shaped keys by color, luminosity, silhouette against a background, or the touch of the fingers to the contours of the identification means in the keyhead.

A further object is to form in the head of a metal key blank an embossed character indicative of a particular door to be opened, so that blind or near-sighted individuals may by touch readily distinguish a particular key without need for light or vision.

A further object is to provide a novel key blank having different characters, such as letters or code numbers, cut out, and embossed in the metal key head, so that the key blanks as sold to the locksmiths may be made into keys with a letter or code number to represent a house, garage, or cabinet key, etc.

Another object of the invention is to provide a durable and permanent identification in the head of a key, which is formed from the metal head of the key as an integral part thereof.

The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear more fully hereinafter from a consideration of the detailed description which follows, taken together with the accompanying drawings wherein one embodiment of the invention is illustrated. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not designed as a definition of the limits of the invention.

In the drawing, wherein like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views:

Fig. 1 is a general perspective view of a key showing the head thereof cut out and embossed to provide an indicating letter with a coated background member mounted in the head.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal cross section view taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the key head.

Referring to the drawing in detail, there is shown a key If having a cut out head portion l I with an embossed letter or character I2 defined and formed as an integral part of the key head.

The character I 2 is formed from the metal key head H in any suitable manner, as for example, by die members, not shown, so as to simultaneously cut out and emboss or cause one side of the character I2 to be raised above the normal flat surface of the key head. This is best shown in Figure 2, the flat surface being represented by numeral I 4 and the raised portion of the embossed character by number l5. Thus with the flat surface [4 for a base or reference line with respect to the raised surface l5 on this side of the key head I l, the outlines of the character are greatly accentuated and readily detected by touch without the aid of vision.

The reverse side of the key head I l during the embossing and cutting steps in the formation of the character 12 is pushed into a concave surface 16, with the result that the body of the character i2 is countersunk below the surface rim 1% of this side of the key head ill. The concave side of the head has a particular advantage in use for facilitating the holding of the key head between the thumb and forefinger.

A novel arrangement to silhouette the character I2 is illustrated by the use of a background member, which is mounted in the key head. For example, there is provided a disc 22 of any desirable color for producing the best silhouette of the character l2 in the key head II. This disc 22 may be formed with a key ring opening 25 and be of any material, such as glass, plastic or metal, but preferably it is slightly flexible so as to snap into an annular notch 23 around the key head in a similar manner to watch crystal. One side of the disc 22 may be coated with luminous paint 24 of any desired color, or it may be silvered, if desired so as to still further accentuate the silhouette of the character l2.

There are thus provided novel and useful. iinprovements in keys and key blanks, whereby much time is saved by permanently forming as an integral part of a key head, a plurality of novel, durable and efiicient indicating arrangements, so that prolonged fumbling with different keys in a key bunch, causing considerable mental anguish when time is short, is eliminated.

Although only one embodiment of my invention has been illustrated and described in detail, it is to be expressly understood that the same is not limited thereto, as various changes may be made in the design and arrangement of the parts illustrated, as will now be apparent to those skilled in the art. For definition "of the scope or limit of the invention, reference should be had to the appended claim.

I claim:

A key having a concavo-convex head portion, and a skeleton character embossed in the said head adapted to stand out in silhouette against a contrasting background, said background com- 20 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number I Name Date D. 129,546 Ragot Sept. 16, 1941 715,766 Dreman Dec. 6, 1902 1,444,963 Fay Feb. 13, 1923 1,446,241 Armstron Feb. 20, 1923 1,485,075 Gumaer Feb. 26, 1924 1,556,636 Schulz Oct. 13, 1925 1,816,642

Fetter July 28, 1931 

